Vuelta a Espana Stage 9: Villacastín - Sierra de Bejar. La Covatilla 183,0 km

[Anonymous]

birdsong or wiggins in the red tomm.

 

[roundabout]

birdsong or wiggins in the red tomm.

Wiggins all the way.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Froome is having a solid year and this Vuelta and that early pull was fantastic before Wiggo took over.
Guarantees his continuing presence at Sky next year hopefully.

They'd be fools not to keep him on if today is representative of his abilities in the mountains. Who doesn't need a domestique who can protect his leader all the way to the top of the mountain?

 

[cocteau_ireland]

Who the hell is bauke mollema??!!

 

[Parrulo]

I don't give a flying **** Mollema is leader. You can't say anything

easy boy don't need to go all defensive.i didn't even mention mollema . . .

 

[Pharazon]

who the hell is bauke mollema??!!

blasphemy!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Dan Martin took the mountains jersey today.

With a good chance of a sprint from a small group at the top of La Manzaneda, he might think about trying to defend that all the way to Madrid. I think Moncoutié will get into the break on the Ancares stage and, if anybody's within decent range on the GPM classification, on the Gasteiz stage, though, and if Martin doesn't blow up he'll probably be too dangerous to let go on these stages.

 

[killswitch]

It's Wiggins' to lose now.

 

[hatcher]

Froome's problem has always been his bad days have masked his really good days. Obviously today was far better than anything he's done previously. One week with no bad days is a big step forward.

 

[cocteau_ireland]

I've watched every single cycle race on eurosport this season Never heard of him

 

[Parrulo]

I don't think nibbles is actually weaker this yaer, the field is probably a little bit better this year. Jrod clearly had an odd day, the guy really lacks in consistency and anton is simply very bad at this vuelta.

i would go as far as saying that he is stronger this year. last year he got dropped fairly often by people like mosquera but always managed to limit his losses, this year he is actually trying(so far not very successfully)making the race his own.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Pity that Martin got docked those 40 seconds the other day.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Wonder where Froome will be on GC tomorrow evening - prior to today I had him down as a better TTer than climber (though not great in either to be frank).

 

[movingtarget]

You have to wonder about Scarponi's tactics sometimes. He did the same thing in the Giro.

 

[Greenflame]

it was headwind. TGBM is not a total moron

Clearly not, but that does explain why he beat Wiggins and Menchov here. Exactly the kind of passive (although now it's TGBM, it's suddenly not passive but smart) riding you guys hate so much in riders like Leipheimer and up until recently Nibali.

Might be overstating a bit for dramatic effect, but still I do hope Mollema will launch some attacks this Vuelta and not just follow his way to a top-10 placing.

Most of all though, I hope JRod will be able to limit his losses tomorrow and stay at least a bit within reach of Nibali and Wiggins.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Today was the day when the three main protagonists of the 2010 Tour of Poland made their mark on bigger stages: Martin, TGBM and Bole.

 

[meandmygitane]

Pretty sure Wiggins will have the red jersey with a minute or more after tomorrrow, seems to get stronger by the day in this Vuelta while Fuglsang's form seems to be slowly getting worse.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

i would go as far as saying that he is stronger this year. last year he got dropped fairly often by people like mosquera but always managed to limit his losses, this year he is actually trying(so far not very successfully)making the race his own.

I agree, I feel like nibbles has come a long way the last 12 months.

Very good rider, very reliable.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Dan Martin took the mountains jersey today, he won't have to wear the combination jersey by default any more.

In related news, why does the Vuelta have a combi jersey but no young rider jersey?

The Young Rider jersey is a relatively new invention at the Giro (since 2007), replacing the Intergiro (until 2005) and the Combination (2006) jersey.

The Combination jersey at the Giro was a points-based thing based on your position in the GC, points, GPM and sprints competition (with 15 down to 1 for your position in the top 15 of each classification every day).

The Vuelta may move to a young rider competition as it grows more ASO-influenced (we've already seen the formerly blue points jersey go green, and the formerly dark red - and before that orange, until the advent of Euskaltel made it hard to spot - GPM jersey turn polka dotted like the Tour), but I like that it has a Combined jersey - it brings it into line with most of the Spanish stage races, keeping some of the Spanish flavour in the race.

The Combination classification is actually an older classification than the young rider one - the Tour introduced it with a white jersey in 1968, then replaced it with the young rider in 1975.

 

[cineteq]

It's Wiggins' to lose now.

You mean Nibali, right? Pretty much the only stage he can put serious time on everyone else is tomorrow, with more than half a Vuelta to go.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Mollema pulls a Leipheimer 2 days in succession and that makes him smart?

Well, I suppose it does when there are bonus seconds to play for, but if it the Bald Bottle had been the one pulling his party trick, imagine the verbal smackdown he'd be getting right now......

Still, he was probably on his limit, trying to keep attached to the Wiggin's train.

 

[hfer07]

Scarponi and Rodriguez showed once again why they will always struggle to win a grand tour. Great climbers but don't consistently put it together over three weeks.

indeed-BUT the good news for the two of them are that they just had that "bad day" behind & can climb on the GC in the next stages-obviously controlling the time gaps that are going to get wider tomorrow in the ITT

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Pretty sure Wiggins will have the red jersey with a minute or more after tomorrrow, seems to get stronger by the day in this Vuelta while Fuglsang's form seems to be slowly getting worse.

You think he'll take 2 minutes out of Nibali?

It's possible - I'm not going to say it's likely or that I think it will happen - but it is certainly possible that Wiggins took a lot out of himself in that performance today, and though I'd still back his ITT to be better than most of the other GC contenders, that he doesn't gain as much from it as anticipated.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Still, he was probably on his limit, trying to keep attached to the Wiggin's train.

A sentence we'd all have laughed at this morning!

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

You mean Nibali, right? Pretty much the only stage he can put serious time on everyone else is tomorrow, with more than half a Vuelta to go.

Equally, he's dropped Nibali on today's MTF and yesterday's punchy finish, and most people agree he will be ahead of Nibali tomorrow.

I agree as it happens, Nibali is favourite, but it's not totally unreasonable to look at Wiggins after this.